But the deer was in worse shape. "All the legs were broken," Marchitto said.

When police arrived, they had to kill the deer with a shotgun. This all happened in front of a house hosting Thanksgiving dinner, the driveway packed with cars.

With an estimated deer population of 900,000, most of New York's 65,000 annual deer-vehicle collisions happen from October to December, according to the state Department of Transportation.

In 2010, there were 15,025 reported car collisions involving animals in the state, most of those involving deer, according to state police. As of Nov. 11 this year, there were 11,809 collisions reported to the police, with still more than another month to go in the deer mating and migration season.

This year, New York ranked 21st in the United States in the likelihood of a vehicle collision with a deer — down from 19th the year before, according to the State Farm Mutual Insurance Company.

"During the fall "» it's mating season for deer. There's an increased risk and potential for deer-vehicle accidents, so we do advise people, especially between dawn and dusk when they're driving, to look for any deer," said state Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach.

And drivers can be hurt, as well.

Between 2006 and 2010, there were 676 reported injuries and two deaths, with 15,541 reported vehicle-deer collisions in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan Counties.

Even when you're not hurt physically, a collision can be a jarring experience.

"It was surreal almost. It happened so fast that I didn't really comprehend it," said Dean Brady of Newburgh.

Brady was doing about 40 miles per hour on Brewer Road in Newburgh at around 9 p.m., when he hit a deer in his minivan.

"It left an imprint in the front of my car, smashing the whole radiator — all the anti-freeze was leaking out of the car," said Brady.

Afterward, Brady said it took a while to calm down. "It took me about four or five hours to get out of this adrenaline-pumping, on-edge type of feeling," he said.

And then there's the cost of fixing your vehicle.

The average insurance claim for deer-vehicle collisions from the final half of 2010 to the first half of 2011 nationwide was $3,171, up 2.2 percent from a year ago, according to Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute.

"A confrontation between a deer and a vehicle will occur every five seconds in the United States in November," Worters said.

Marchitto received an estimate of over $1,000 in damage to his girlfriend's Saturn.

"It's more than likely it'll be considered totaled," said Marchitto.

Bill Murray of Murray's Auto Body in Goshen said he's had probably 10 vehicles brought into his shop so far this year after collisions with deer. Murray said he's been in business for 51 years, and that newer cars are more expensive to fix.

"With the newer cars and all the high-definition headlights, air-conditioning components in the front, transmission coolers, the construction of the cars, one-piece bumpers — they do a lot more damage to your car today then they did years ago," said Murray.